Thursday, August 19, 2010

As the First General Law of Travel tells us, every nation is its stereotype.
Americans are indeed fat and overbearing, Mexicans lazy and pilfering, Germans disciplined and perverted. The Turks, as everyone knows, are insane and deceitful. I say this affectionately. I live in Turkey. On good days, I love Turkey. But I have long since learned that its people are apt to go berserk on you for no reason whatsoever, and you just can’t trust a word they say. As one Turkish friend put it (a man who has spent many years in America, and thus grasps the depth of the cultural chasm), “It’s not that they’re bad. They don’t even know they’re lying.”
My friend is right, and his comment suggests a point about Turkish culture that I doubt many Westerners grasp. People here—and, I would guess, throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean, though Turkey is the only country I know well—see “truth” as something plastic, connected more to emotions than to facts or logic. If it feels true, it is true. What’s more, feelings here tend to change very quickly—and with them, the truth.
Take, for instance, my former landlord. Last year, my apartment was burgled. Under Turkish law, if your apartment is burgled, you have the right to insist that your landlord install bars on your windows. When I put this to my landlord, he objected, screaming violently, as so often people here do for no reason any American would accept as legitimate. First, my landlord screamed, there was no risk of burglary: there had never before been a burglary in our neighborhood. (Actually, our neighborhood was notorious for it.) Second, he screamed, to install bars would create a hazard: burglars would use them to climb up to the second floor. He offered both arguments in the same sentence. He was unperturbed by the obvious problem with his line of reasoning.

Later, when I discussed the matter with Turkish friends, they explained to me that I had made a critical negotiating mistake: I had insulted his honor by telling him I would have bars installed rather than asking him. The argument, they explained, had nothing to do with the real risk of burglary, and certainly nothing to do with my rights under Turkish rental law. It was about my failure to show the man the proper respect.
I’m not sure my Turkish friends were right about that, though. They are, after all, Turkish, so they pretty much say whatever sounds good to them at the time. They tend to explain these situations ex post facto with appeals to the subtleties of Turkish culture, but the story never stays the same. I’ve been in similar situations in which these same Turkish friends have explained that my mistake was asking, rather than telling. Asking, they have assured me, is a sign of weakness, so no wonder my adversaries sought to take advantage.(read more...)

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Researchers from MD Anderson Cancer Center determined patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee who are treated with traditional Chinese acupuncture (TCA) do not experience any more benefit than those receiving sham acupuncture (placebo). The team did find that the communication style of the acupuncturist could have a significant effect on pain reduction and satisfaction in patients.
"We found a small, but significant effect on pain and satisfaction with treatment, demonstrating a placebo effect related to the clinician's communications style," said Dr. Suarez-Almazor. The team found significant differences in J-MAP pain reduction (0.25) and satisfaction (0.22) for those patients in the high expectations group compared with the neutral group. "The improvement in pain and satisfaction suggests that the benefits of acupuncture may be partially mediated through placebo effects related to the behavior of the acupuncturist," concluded Dr. Suarez-Almazor.(read more...)

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Even when producing daily dining utensils, Nakazato is not bound by the restrictions of traditional designs, and introduces free, original forms. However, rather than expressing a mere compulsive resistance to tradition, this approach could be more accurately interpreted as liberation of his aesthetic sense, attitudes, and life style from the fixed confines of tradition, and proceeding in accordance with the forms naturally arising from his own free artistic spirit.

Indeed, Nakazato's attitudes toward life reflect his serious efforts toward the goal of self-liberation. He has constructed a home and workshop of his own design in a secluded mountain locality, where he lives and creates pottery along with his family and apprentices. He himself also enjoys cooking, is a devotee of baroque music, and even holds miniature concerts in his workshop.(read more...)

Friday, August 6, 2010

“True Life: I Have Schizophrenia” – What if you couldn’t tell the difference between reality and a scary hallucination? Or you heard voices in your head telling you to hurt yourself? Or if a trip to the supermarket made you feel as though the world was plotting against you?

That’s the daily reality for the more than two million Americans living with Schizophrenia - a debilitating mental illness that blurs the line between what’s real and what’s in your head. In this episode of True Life, you’ll meet three young people doing their best to live with this disorder that will be with them forever.
Part 1

“True Life: I Have Schizophrenia” – What if you couldn’t tell the difference between reality and a scary hallucination? Or you heard voices in your head telling you to hurt yourself? Or if a trip to the supermarket made you feel as though the world was plotting against you? That’s the daily reality for the more than two million Americans living with Schizophrenia - a debilitating mental illness that blurs the line between what’s real and what’s in your head. In this episode of True Life, you’ll meet three young people doing their best to live with this disorder that will be with them forever.Part 2 & 3

Thursday, August 5, 2010

"We found that, when ovulating, women chose sexier fashion products when thinking about other attractive, local but not distant women," says Durante. "If you are in New York, a woman who lives in LA isn't going to be seen as competition."
Although the end result is to attract the best romantic partner available, Durante's research found that ovulating women's choice of dress is motivated by the other women in their environment. "In order to entice a desirable mate, a woman needs to assess the attractiveness of other women in her local environment to determine how eye-catching she needs to be to snare a good man," Durante says.

In the study, researchers had ovulating women view a series of photographs of attractive local women and then asked them to choose clothing and accessory items to purchase. The majority of participants chose sexier products than those who had been shown photographs of unattractive local women or women who lived over 1000 miles away. This change in consumer choice is not a conscious decision and non-ovulating women are not subject to the effect.(read more...)